Personal computers have recently become very popular for a variety of uses ranging from home, office, engineering, sales, marketing, and military applications. Virtually every aspect of business, engineering and science utilizes some form of computer system on a daily basis. Since their introduction, personal computers have become increasingly compact while simultaneously becoming increasingly powerful. This progression of smaller and more powerful personal computers has reached the point that some personal computer manufacturers are providing a tablet personal computer, or “tablet PC.”
The tablet PC is a fully functional personal computer, which may include a Microsoft Windows® operating system or other such operating systems as are known to the art. The tablet PC not only is capable of running familiar productivity applications such as Microsoft's WORD®, EXCEL® and POWERPOINT®, but also offers the same rich connectivity to the Internet that a desktop or notebook PC provides. In addition, the tablet PC adds the simplicity of pen and paper, because the user can write on the screen for data input.
As tablet PCs have become increasingly popular, users have come to expect these systems to have all of the features of bulkier desktop models. Consequently, the power demands made on the battery packs for these systems has increased significantly. On the other hand, portability is a key feature for tablet PCs. Hence, the battery packs made for these systems must provide several hours of use between charging. In bulkier laptop PCs, extended battery life can be achieved by providing additional battery packs. However, this is a difficult solution to implement in tablet PCs, since there is little additional space in the chassis of such systems to accommodate additional battery packs. The situation is complicated by the fact that the battery packs must be readily accessible so that they can be removed for recharging, if necessary, or so that depleted packs can be readily replaced with recharged units.
There is thus a need in the art for a battery pack suitable for use in tablet PCs that does not add significantly to the bulk of the tablet PC, that provides additional battery life, and that is easy to replace or recharge. These and other needs are met by the devices and methodologies disclosed herein and hereinafter described.